Berkeley joins criminal probe into balcony collapse

After declaring their probe into last week’s deadly apartment-balcony collapse finished, Berkeley authorities have done an about-face and joined a criminal investigation led by Alameda County prosecutors, The Chronicle has learned.

Berkeley authorities made the decision hours after city officials said Tuesday that the laminated-wood supports holding up the fifth-floor balcony at 2020 Kittredge St. had become “severely dry rotted” before the collapse.

Teresa Drenick, spokeswoman for Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, said Wednesday that Berkeley police were taking part in an investigation, and that “in light of Berkeley’s statement yesterday that they had closed their investigative process, the district attorney’s (office) will be the lead agency.”

Instead of conducting a forensic examination of the collapse, Berkeley officials said, they were focusing on reforms that would effectively ban the use of laminated wood on balconies in multiunit buildings by requiring pressure-treated wood or galvanized metal for supports.

Berkeley’s position on a criminal probe changed late Tuesday, about the time the district attorney’s office said it was looking into the failure, sources familiar with the case told The Chronicle.

Among those who could come under investigation are the apartment building’s main contractor, Segue Construction Inc. of Pleasanton, and the company that applied a waterproof membrane for the balcony’s laminated-wood support beams, R. Brothers Inc. of San Jose.

Independent experts who have examined photos of the damage for The Chronicle have said the membrane appeared to have been torn, possibly during construction.

Authorities also ordered the removal of the rot-damaged balcony beneath the collapsed structure, and left it with the private contractor that took it down the day after the collapse.

The intersection between the building and the cantilevered deck is the likely source of the water — now that they have cut it out, to try to reconstruct the actual conditions will be almost impossible.

Miller said the crucial elements in the probe are determining the source of the water infiltration and the contractor responsible for the problem.

Critics, however, said the balcony could have been braced and made off-limits, and that photos taken before a police investigation was launched were not the same thing as firsthand observation.

Hallinan accused the Franklin Street apartment building owner, Randall Nathan, of manslaughter for allegedly undermining the deck’s structural integrity by ordering that a support beam be moved without securing a permit.

Niall McCarthy, an attorney who represented some of the victims, said he has brought civil cases in other collapses, but that authorities typically have “zero interest in prosecution.”